Saturday, September 03, 2005

Ante Diem III Nonas September

This is one of the dies comitiales when committees of citizens could vote on political or criminal matters.

On this day in 175 BCE, the king of the Seleucid empire, Seleucus IV Philopator, who was the successor of Alexander, died.

September is the 'magical' seventh month (after March).

New Moon conjunct Sun in Virgo.Harmonious and fruitful blendings of Earth energies. The night of the New Moon is ideal for teaching the physical and spiritual Education of the Virgin through the Map of Love in the late summer sky. This Year's September New Moon is relatively uneventful, though Uranus in Pisces opposite the Sun-Moon conjunction in Virgo will keep the moment from getting dull. This is the 8th lunation in the Chinese lunar calendar, known as the Harvest Moon. It is the Greek month of Boedromion and the Jewish month of Elul, the time of study and preparation for the New Year which begins at Rosh Hashanah (Oct 4).

In the ancient Celtic and Druidic calendars, and also in the modern Wiccan calendar, this New Moon in the month of Virgo is called the Singing Moon.

Festival of the AncestorsIn the Chinese Taoist calendar, the annual Festival of the Ancestors is celebrated now, on the New Moon of the 8th Lunar Month.

Birth of the Kitchen GodOn the first day of the 8th lunar month, the Chinese also celebrate the birthday of the Kitchen God Zaoshen, also called the Black Lord. His temple is opened for three days and visited, especially by cooks.

AkwamboOn this day Akwambo, the Path Clearing Festival of Ghana's Akan people is celebrated. Village people symbolically clears a path to the village well where a priestess offers libations to the god of the well.